Automatic test equipment (ATE) includes electronics for sending signals to, and receiving signals from, a device under test (DUT) in order to test the operation of the DUT. The ATE includes instrument modules that may be configured to send and to receive signals as part of the testing process. Different instrument modules may perform different tests and, in some cases, may be used to test different DUTs. A host computer coordinates testing by communicating with the instrument modules.
The transmission control protocol (TCP) has been used to implement communications between the host computer and the instrument modules. Traditionally, individual connections were maintained between the host computer and each instrument module. In some cases, particularly for larger numbers of connections, it can be difficult for the test system to maintain and to manage so many individual connections while also meeting required reliability, latency, and bandwidth constraints. This can be especially true when the individual connections are maintained over Ethernet.